Hong Xiuquan was originally a talented person, but he was disappointed to take the imperial examination many times and landed on the ground, and when he was lost, he came into contact with Christianity, which made him open up. He then returned to his hometown, where in 1851 he launched a rebellion against like-minded friends in Kaneda.
His rebellion was supported by many people, and eventually they captured Nanjing, established the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom here, and ruled the Yangtze River with the Qing Dynasty. However, the vigorous Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was destroyed and failed under the blows of the Qing government and local armed forces and foreign foreign gun brigades.
Regarding the failure of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, there has been a lot of controversy in history, and some people say that it was caused by the limitations of the peasant class. Some people also say that Hong Xiuquan became the Queen of Heaven, did not think of making progress, sang and danced all day, indulged in the gentle countryside, and forgot his great cause. Some people also say that the main reason for the failure of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was that they were unpopular, massacred on a large scale, and killed innocent people. In short, for various reasons.
Historical evaluations of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom were also not very friendly, and there were many voices of denigration. So, what was the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in history? Is the Taiping Army a cruel army we have heard of?
My answer is that the Taiping Army is not what we think it is. British Officer F. A· Lindley's "Personal Experience of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Revolution" presents us with a different Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Taiping Army, and restores the real history.
In fact, Hong Xiuquan is very similar to Liu Bang and Zhu Yuanzhang in history, they all started from cloth and led troops to conquer and build a country. Liu Bang rebelled against the Qin Dynasty and eventually defeated Xiang Yu and took possession of the world; Zhu Yuanzhang overthrew the enslavement of the Mongols and established the Ming Dynasty. Hong Xiuquan also established his own Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the difference is that Liu Bang and Zhu Yuanzhang succeeded, and Hong Xiuquan failed.
All the information about Hong Xiuquan and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was destroyed by the Qing government, and the Taiping Army was surrounded and suppressed by the Qing court, and very few of them survived, so that it was difficult for us to obtain the real materials of that year. As an enemy of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the British naval officer F. A· Lindley's "Personal Experiences of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Revolution" is of great reference value.
Why?
The so-called information obtained from the enemy's mouth is generally true information, as an enemy of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, F· A· Lindley obviously does not speak for Hong Xiuquan, which will only be detrimental to himself, so he tries to describe it badly and truthfully, so that he can effectively fight the enemy.
By F· A· Lindley's memoirs we find that the Taiping Army was actually a very disciplined force, their style was rigorous, and it was impossible to burn and loot as the Qing government said. Moreover, compared to the Qing government, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom did not know how many times better.
Taking opium as an example, it is well known that in the middle and late Qing Dynasty, whether it was high-ranking officials and nobles or low-level people, whether officials or soldiers, they were addicted to the illusion of opium and could not extricate themselves.
Opium was extracted from the poppy and was introduced to China by the Arabs as a medicinal tribute in the early days. In 1800 AD, in order to reverse the trade deficit and make high profits, the British began to import a large amount of opium into the Qing Dynasty through the East India Company, so that the opium poison plague spread all over the world, from the princes and nobles down to the peddlers and pawns, and the crow poison spread into a disaster. A large amount of silver outflow also caused a serious silver famine in the Qing Dynasty, and the economy faced a crisis.
In contrast to the opium epidemic in the Qing Dynasty, Hong Xiuquan's Taiping Heavenly Kingdom banned opium consumption. In the book "Personal Experiences of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Revolution", it is said that Hong Xiuquan founded the Worship of God Society, and all the believers who participated must abide by the moral cultivation of the Heavenly King's Covenant. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom not only forbade believers from smoking opium, but even the usual tobacco and drinking alcohol were banned, and the death penalty punished drug addicts.
In addition to banning opium, Hong Xiuquan was very kind to the faithful. The Taiping Army's piety and enthusiasm for people, not only in the taiping heavenly kingdom army, even walking on the streets, can also appreciate the taiping army's faith, the civilization it shows, and its generosity to the people. Moreover, this style displayed by the Taiping Army is without any utilitarian nature, any purpose or motive, but is sincere and sincere from the heart, and is a love for China's rivers and mountains.
Finally, even the enemy of this Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the British officer F. A· Lindley was completely impressed by the discipline of the Taiping Army, which made him fully convinced that "there is no cause in the world that is more just and sacred than theirs."
The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was very free, their minds were not imprisoned, they quickly learned English, as well as various other skills, and the progress of their studies was very rapid.
Wherever the Taiping Army went, brothels were banned and prostitutes were forbidden. A proclamation entitled "Exhortations to Officers and Soldiers, Good People, etc., Should Eliminate Filthy Customs and Return to the Right Path," said: "If you are accustomed to evil deeds, officers, soldiers, and civilians are engaged in prostitution privately, do not abide by the rules and regulations, and those who are prostitutes are washed together with their families." Neighbor right catcher, there is a reward. Therefore the indulgent shall be punished as one. Those who know the offender will not be beheaded. ”
The programmatic document of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the "Heavenly Dynasty Tianmu System," clearly put forward the principle of having land and farming, clothing, clothing, food, and money, making everywhere uneven and no one full of warmth, so how can such a regime that thinks about the peasants massacre on a large scale? On the contrary, after the failure of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, the Qing government showed great cruelty, and the Qing army wantonly slaughtered the prisoners of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
The reason why history portrays Hong Xiuquan as a duplicitous and obsessed with female color, and the Taiping Army as a cruel and fierce team, is mainly the conspiracy of the Qing Dynasty. The Manchu Qing Dynasty falsified history, deliberately printed fake books, or denigrated or obscured the great achievements of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, so that many historical truths were buried in the long river of history. Now British Naval Officer F. A· Lindley's "Personal Experience of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Revolution" allows us to see a real Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
Friends, welcome to pay attention!